Ben Roberts-Smith’s former business partner establishes trust to handle flood of offers to donate to the embattled SAS veteran after he was accused of war crimes
A legal trust has been established to accept donations towards Ben Roberts-Smith and his family after the retired SAS corporal was accused of killing Afghan civilians.
The Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG Trust was created on April 25 and its website quietly went live at the weekend, with one of the signatories being the former soldier’s old business partner Adam Veale.
Daily Mail understands Roberts-Smith and his family played no part in making the trust, but the former soldier has approved it.
‘Established by close friends in response to overwhelming support for Ben and his family,’ the website states. ‘
‘A transparent mechanism for those who wish to offer meaningful support to his family as he undertakes a significant and ongoing battle.’
Australian taxpayers, through the Afghanistan Inquiry Legal Assistance Scheme (AILAS), will foot the bill for Roberts-Smith’s defence, as well the costs associated with prosecuting him.
However, the website explains ‘there are costs associated with defending the charges that are not covered under the Scheme’ and the trust ‘will be used to alleviate the financial burden and to provide stability for Ben’s family in the lead up to, during, and after these proceedings’.
The website also warns that any other channels should be ‘treated as fraudulent’. Multiple unauthorised GoFundMe pages had appeared after Roberts-Smith’s arrest but were previously shut down.
Mr Veale was formerly a co-director of RS Group Australia, which was a company registered more than a decade ago for Roberts-Smith’s business ventures.
It covered his lucrative public speaking gigs, which dried up following the accusations against him surfacing.
Additionally, documents indicated the company intended to pursue television content regarding history, films, audio programs and potentially merchandise.
On the same day the trust was formed, Roberts-Smith’s partner Sarah Matulin took aim at federal MP Andrew Hastie.
Matulin wrote ‘yeah you’re a traitor’ underneath a post of Mr Hastie and his children on Anzac Day, which had a caption about the importance of remembering fallen soldiers.
Her comment was later deleted.
In a statement through Roberts-Smith’s lawyer, Ms Matulin conceded the online remarks were an error.
‘It was a mistake to make that comment in a public forum and wasn’t done with Ben’s knowledge,’ she said.
Asked about the comment, Mr Hastie struck a philosophical tone.
‘It is what it is, and I really have nothing to add to it. Life goes on,’ he told Sky News.
‘I’m just very cautious, given that a fair trial, the presumption of innocence and a few other legal principles are at stake here, so I won’t be commentating like other public figures on this.’
When Roberts-Smith sued for defamation over a series of newspaper articles accusing him of war crimes, Mr Hastie was called as a witness by Nine Entertainment, the publisher defending the suit.
The now-Liberal MP was a captain in the SAS for more than five years and was deployed to Afghanistan alongside Roberts-Smith.
Mr Hastie said he may be called as a witness in the upcoming criminal trial.
Roberts-Smith was given bail shortly after he was charged with five counts of war crime murder over a series of alleged killings in Afghanistan.
The court proceedings are expected to take years.
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Source: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15808083/Ben-Roberts-Smith.html